This invention relates to compressed, freeze-dried cottage cheese which is readily rehydratable to form an acceptable reconstituted cottage cheese food product and which more particularly has good curd identity and mouth feel in the rehydrated state. The invention also relates to the method of producing such a compressed, freeze-dried cottage cheese.
It has for a number of years been an objective of the Armed Forces to provide members thereof with rations which would as closely as possible resemble the types and quality of foods which they are accustomed to being served at home. It has also been an important objective to reduce the bulk and weight of ration components as much as possible without too great a sacrifice in quality of the foods as they are served. The latter objective has become very important in connection with submarines since space is always at a premium therein.
Cottage cheese is a highly desirable component of salads for civilians, but normally is quite perishable and, therefore, requires refrigeration. It has been subjected to freeze-drying to preserve it so that it may be stored at room temperature or even higher temperatures for long periods of time. Until now, however, compacting of freeze-dried cottage cheese has been unsuccessful because the curd has heretofore lost its identity as a result of compression, so much so that rehydrated cottage cheese prepared from the compacted, freeze-dried cottage cheese of the prior art has been mushy or soupy, thus having none of the physical characteristics usually associated with fresh cottage cheese.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of producing compacted, freeze-dried cottage cheese which is storage-stable and is capable of being rehydrated to form cottage cheese which is organoleptically comparable to freshly prepared cottage cheese.
Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description of the invention.